I have been a massage therapist for 20 years, a reiki healer for about 8 years
And I have been a self-care coach, wellness coach and a weight loss coach since 2011
I work almost exclusively with women
I did a lot of massage and stuff for my family growing up
I did have a lot of chronic illness and chronic pain as a child
I was on way too many antibiotics from age 2 to 17, so it really destroyed my health and immune system
And I had a severe car accident in 1995, where I was hit by a truck and had a 4-time sideways impact of my head hitting the window frame
So, I got a lot of damage on my neck and some head injuries
That kind of pushed me down the road to massage and wellness
The lead me going to massage school which just felt like a coming home to my heart and soul
From there, I started learning about self-care, nutrition, all the back-end stuff
I seem to be on this wonderful path to wellness, my health is getting better and all of these improvements
And in my 30’s, I was hit suddenly with my father dying and a month after that, I have to take care of my mom who had Alzheimer’s and she was my best friend growing up, so that was pretty intense
I moved her to Texas where I was living at the time and was really involved for her care for 8 and half years – very slow goodbye before she passed
And at that time, I was starting my business, got married and got divorced, so it was just a really intense period of stress where everything I knew for self-care, it stopped being I should do or something I enjoyed doing and it started something mandatory so I could function
As a result, both with my massage and with coaching, everything that I do for my clients or teach to my clients are specific things, techniques or rituals that I found super helpful in my own recoveries
I love sharing the work with other people
I became a Qigong instructor too during that time
I studied it and I absolutely love Qigong
Tai chi is a form of Qigong
Qigong means energy practice or energy discipline
And you are building energy, you are learning how to quickly tap into source energy and build it to your system
There is medical Qigong which is similar to Reiki
But with reiki, what I love about is, you are addressing the energy body, like the energy field that comes out from all of us
For most of us living in the modern-day world, going through the course of the day, we can accumulate different stressors and we are sort of carrying it with us unconsciously
If you struggle from anxiety or depression, the field around you is going to resonate with that vibration
With reiki, you are going either into your own bubble or someone else’s and clearing it
And also giving them an infusion of pure life force energy
So, it’s like the energy coming off the sun or it’s this wonderful love feeling that can clear out the junk and just refresh for your presents ones again
You can do distance healing with reiki too
I have done it a few times with a friend who is living in Seattle, Delaware and thing like that
But we are not on the same room, but you can send them energy in particular ways, clear it and the people receiving it can actually feel it and benefit
I love reiki for self-care
One of the is self-massage
That’s a really big one especially for women
When I was retraining myself to get out of those old patterns, instead of going to the kitchen and wash my hands, what if I go to the bathroom, wash my hands and feet and give myself a really yummy foot massage for 3 minutes
When you massage your legs and feet, it is very grounding
In the subject of reiki, it activates the root chakra that connects you to the most basic needs and comfort
If you are dealing with financial stress, grounding into that first chakra can really help you
Two, is aroma therapy
Whether you will use essential oils directly on your skin or defuse them in the air
You are actually getting from the plant extract and it can bypass the thinking brain and goes straight to the emotional center
The essential oil can calm you down instantly without having to talk yourself down, you just suddenly feel better
Exercise can also be a form of stress relief
Exercise is yet another thing that we should do. We add into our chore list and it became this thing we feel guilty about because we did not do it
In my world, exercise is something I reach for like a thirsty person reaching for water
Exercise is the most effective anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication
You have to think exercise as the vacation from your stress or vacation from your life and focus on recycling your energy
Something important to know about essential oil of citrus, is that if you are to put that straight on your skin and you go outside in the sun, they can actually make you burn
If you are using really concentrated like cinnamon or oregano that’s really strong, it kind of burn your skin
If you put it straight on your skin, you definitely want to mix
You want to get some general books that have some guidelines
Defusing is good
For one in your bedroom, a lovely blend I recommend for sleepy time is that you mix chamomile and lavender
It is very grounding, calming, slows your brain down and just get you ready for sleep
You can also do chamomile and eucalyptus if you have allergies and prone to snoring
In my office, I like doing lemon, rosemary and lavender
Because it’s kind of perky and it helps me concentrate and stay focus
Rosemary is wonderful for mental focus and clarity
Lemon is uplifting and cheerful
For self-massage, if you are still at the edge of your bathtub, get a yummy smelling body wash and massage it into your feet
You can do an aroma therapy by blending the oil or a lotion that you like
Peppermint lotion of your feet can be really nice
When you massage your feet, even though you don’t know the reflexology point, you are still stimulating them
The hands and the feet and ears, are really rich in reflex points where you can affect the entire body from rubbing hands, feet and ears
When you are massaging your feet, your whole body is going to feel more relax when you are done
FAVORITE ACCOMPLISHMENT
Before I was starting my career in wellness and massage, I was a singer/songwriter
When I was in San Francisco, I got to record with a couple of guys and one of them took my song and remixed it
I ended up being feature on his album and I got a vinyl and check on the mail from warner brothers as a royalty for my vocals
GUILTY PLEASURE
I love my hot tub
I had struggled with acne
I had been vegan for how many years
And yet my face was a disaster
When I get rid of the gluten, my skin cleared up
Gluten and soy, for me was a recipe for acne
In addition to food triggers, the number 1 trigger is stress
The chronic pain, chronic stress and injuries and all these things can wear you down
And so, a lot of women by the time they have their second child is going to intersect with being the busiest time of your life
A lot of women of that will have hypothyroid or hashimoto’s because they are keeping so much stress on themselves that a certain point, the body will just break down
It doesn’t have the energy to keep up with the constant emergency signals being sent by the nervous system